Girl Next Door
by Kalika1
Summary: Tony is with Jeanne, and Ziva's depressed and jealous. So she asks a friend to dedicate a song to him, but without him knowing. Too bad Ziva forgot, or, rather, doesn't know, that the club where Gil sings is a favored hang out of one Tony Dinardo. . .
1. Girl Next Door

**Author's Note: **I don't own NCIS, Tony, Ziva, McGee, or the song "Girl Next Door" by Saving Jane. I do own Gillian Grissom, but I don't own her father or his crime lab, who are not in this story, and I do own Mariana Gibbs. This takes place during season 4, and Gil and Mariana are there to help with the mission, but only Tony and Jenny know it.

Okay, I think I've bored you enough.

**Girl Next Door**

Tony Dinozzo

It didn't exactly phase Tony Dinozzo, who was sitting at a table for two with his girlfriend Jeanne Benoit, when Gillian Grissom, better known as Gil, a temporary member of the NCIS team, was led on stage. She was dressed in a white _tunica_, with a pale blue _stola_ draped over her shoulders to cover the myriad scars that crossed her arms and upper back. Her eyes were covered by a white piece of cloth that had been tied around her head. This little club wasn't called the Blind Sight for nothing, after all, and its primary namesake was its lead singer, Gil, whose codename was Delphi.

It didn't phase Dinozzo cause he knew Gil was working undercover here, with her girlfriend Mariana, codenamed Artemis. She was sort of there to keep an eye on him, though he wasn't sure if her cover as Delphinea was as secure as his, as Tony Dinardo, was, because it hadn't been set up by NCIS. The name and background had been already set up when Jenny had requested Gil help with the assignment. Gil had just called up some favors, and she had become Delphinea, the blind lead-singer of a small club in DC.

The crowd began calling out song requests before "Artemis" had even left the stage, desperate for their own version of the Delphinic oracle to sing "their" song. She raised a hand, settling onto the stool set on the stage for her. Silence fell. Jeanne commented on the power the woman had over her "subjects." Tony nodded numbly, waiting to see what Gil was going to say.

"I understand you all have requests to make of me, but first, I have a special request from a very special young lady I work with." The crowd hooted, everyone assuming the "special young lady" was Artemis. "Oh hush," Delphi said, her face taking the shape of a glare, although it lost something without her eyes. "This young lady is not our dear Artemis, though Artemis informs me she is here tonight." Tony managed to get a sly look around, looking for Abby. He was fairly certain that Ziva didn't know about Gil working here, and even if she did, Ziva was not one to dedicate songs to people. "This song is called 'The Girl Next Door' and it goes out from Lisa," Her head turned, and, if she wasn't wearing the blindfold, her eyes would've locked on his. "To Tommy." He fought the reflex to gasp in surprise.

"Small town homecoming queen

She's the star in this scene

There's no way to deny she's lovely

Perfect skin, perfect hair

Perfumed hearts everywhere

I tell myself that inside she's ugly

Maybe I'm just jealous

I can't help but hate her

Secretly I wonder if my boyfriend wants to date her."

Jeanne was talking to him, but his ears wouldn't listen. All he could hear was Gil's voice, singing a song that _ZIVA_ had dedicated to _HIM_. Sure, she'd done it as Tommy and Lisa, but he knew as well as she did that Special Agent Tommy and Officer Lisa were just McGee's names for them.

She'd used those names because only McGee, Gil, and he would know who she meant. She wanted him to know she was dedicating it to him.

"She is the prom queen; I'm in the marching band,

She is a cheerleader; I'm sitting in the stands,

She gets the top bunk; I'm sleeping on the floor,

She's Miss America, and I'm just the girl next door."

His eyes finally found Ziva, standing near the stage and looking everywhere but at him. He knew she knew he was here, because her eyes kept skipping over where he was. She looked horrified, and caught somewhere between rage and tears all at the same time.

"Senior class president, she must be heaven sent,

She was never the last one standing,

A backseat debutant,

Everything that you want,

Never too harsh or too demanding."

Ziva was trying desperately to get Gil's attention, but, because Gil was blinded by the cloth and was pretending she really was blind, there was no sly way to do it. Mariana noticed after a moment, and, in a smooth, very un-Mariana-like way, glided over to her.

"Can I help you, miss?" Ziva grabbed her arm hard enough that Dinozzo knew she'd be sporting a bruise the next day, which would be carefully hidden. Gil heard her grunt, and her Delphi-self slipped for a moment, though she did not stop singing. Mariana was Gil's weakness when it came to just about everything.

"Maybe I'll admit it,

I'm a little bitter

Everybody loves her but I just want to hit her."

"Why is she doing this now!?!" Ziva growled, just loud enough that Tony could hear her. Jeanne had slipped her hand into his, wondering at the significance of this song to him, but falling silent anyway. Mariana pulled her arm away from Ziva, waving off bouncers who had special orders to keep her safe.

"You're here." Mariana said, much quieter. "She's honoring a request of a friend."

"He's here!" Mariana's eyes went wide, shattering her Artemis calm for a moment. She shook her head, her lips forming the word 'no,' and Ziva made a gesture that was meant to draw her eyes in his direction without making it obvious to Tony or Jeanne she was indicating them. Mariana, Artemis calm firmly set back in place, let her eyes travel over the crowd, and Tony knew she saw and recognized him, but she didn't acknowledge it. She wasn't supposed to know Professor Tony Dinardo, after all.

"She is the prom queen; I'm in the marching band,

She is a cheerleader; I'm sitting in the stands,

She gets the top bunk; I'm sleeping on the floor,

She's Miss America, and I'm just the girl next door.

Oh, I'm just the girl next door."

Mariana turned Ziva so Tony couldn't see her face. "It's too late now. I'm sorry; I didn't know he was here when I told Delphi." She got a small, almost-smirk that made Ziva tense and her hand, which couldn't reach Mariana because she was still holding her arms, clench. "At least maybe now he'll see what you two have isn't just UST, Zeev's." There was no response from Ziva, although Tony would have to be sure to look at her palms the next day to see if there were half-moon nail marks there. "That would be Unresolved Sexual Tension, Zee-va." He wanted to smack Mariana. Only he got to call her Zee-va.

"Do you know Lisa, Tony?" Jeanne asked, squeezing his hand.

"I don't know why I'm feeling sorry for myself,

I spend all my time wishing I was someone else."

Tony debated his answer for a second. "Yeah." He finally said. "I used- I work with her." Gil's blindfolded face was locked on him. He could hear her silent warning. 'Tony, you're about to blow your cover. Jenny will kill you if you blow your cover before she catches La Grenouille.' Her voice slipped for a second, more emotion sliding into the song. He kept talking, resisting the urge to sigh. "She's a secretary for my school. She's had a thing for Tommy, another teacher, since she started."

"She is the prom queen; I'm in the marching band,

She is a cheerleader; I'm sitting in the stands,

I get a little bit, she gets a little more,

She's Miss America and... she's Miss America

I'm just the girl next door..."


	2. Deniability

HEY! It's a long weekend from school and I won't be near speedy internet for a couple days, so I thought I'd upload this before I left.

Again, I don't own Tony, Ziva, NCIS, Director Sheppard, Gibbs, McGee, or Abby. I do own Gil and Mariana, and also Lillian, but she is unimportant to the story. I tried to find a theme song for this chapter, but it just didn't work. So feel free to read in total silence. If that's your thing.

**Deniability **

Tony Dinozzo

The next day, and every day for a week, Ziva completely ignored Tony. Acted as though he had never existed, let alone spent a large portion of his time in her direct vicinity. Ignored him to the point that even Director Sheppard was noticing, and it was affecting the performance of Gibbs' team. There was a betting pool in NCIS on how soon it would be before Gibbs snapped and killed one of them. Or threw them in interrogation to work out their differences. There was a secondary pool on whether Tony would survive the process or not. The overwhelming majority was betting he wouldn't.

Ziva was also ignoring Gil, because she knew that Gil had known Tony was there that night. She had spent so long proving to the Director that she was capable of Gibbs-like detection skills that there was no way she didn't know. However, though Gil and Ziva had grown relatively close during Gil and Mariana's short time at NCIS, they were rarely even in the building at the same time, due to other commitments of Gil's. Therefore, Gil either hadn't noticed or didn't care that the Mossad officer was ignoring her.

Tony, unlike his younger counterpart, found himself desperate to get Ziva's attention, to get her to talk to him, to tell him exactly what she meant. When he finally managed to corner her- no, bad choice of words. Cornering Ziva would be like cornering an injured animal and would only result in getting him hurt. -when he finally managed to get her alone, they were in the NCIS elevator, but before he could say anything, she pinned him to the elevator wall, her arm across his throat.

"Forget it ever happened." She snarled, a dangerous, sociopathic look in her dark eyes. Luckily for Tony, who knew there was no way in the world he would ever be able to do that, the doors pinged open at that exact moment. Also luckily, this time for both agents, it was Gil on the other side of the doors, rather than Gibbs. Gil didn't look up from the notebook she was writing in as she stepped into the elevator.

"Remember the E-brake next time you want to use Gibbs' office to kill Tony, Zeev's." The woman appeared oblivious to both the danger she was voluntarily putting herself in, and Tony, still pinned to the wall with Ziva's arm across his throat. Ziva's free hand was now resting on the butt of her gun, which Gil did notice. Her dark, cobalt blue eyes perked up, an easy smile gracing them, and she glanced at Ziva for a moment, before jotting something down in her notebook with one of her ridiculously bright colored pens. This particular one was a violent purple. "You can't shoot either of us in the NCIS elevator, Zeev's. You don't have enough plausible deniability. I don't even have my weapon on me, so I can't be threatening you. You're definitely going to leave bruises on Tony, so there's no way he got the drop on you." She got that aggravating smirk on her face that meant she was about to say something that would probably get them both killed, deniability or not. "Though I guess you could make the excuse he was trying to seduce you and you were just defending yourself." Whew, she hadn't said whatever it was that would set Ziva off. But, in typical, often idiotic, Gil fashion, she opened her mouth again. "Not that you'd oppose that." SHIT!! Ziva spun around so fast Tony knew her sleeve left burns on his throat, which would be a bitch to hide from Jeanne; and her service weapon snapped out and almost caught Gil across the temple. Gil, almost as proficient at self-defense and hand-to-hand as Ziva, barely managed to block the weapon, but missed the fist that followed it. She'd sport a magnificently swollen black eye for the next week or so. Gibbs would note it and move on, some part of him wondering if this had helped with Tony and Ziva's situation, cause he was THIS CLOSE to putting them out of their misery already; Mariana would glare at Ziva like looks really could kill, Abby would worry over Gil until she heard it was Ziva that hit her and would assume Gil had deserved it, for she often did; and McGee would go back to jotting notes for a new character in his books. An outspoken, sometimes foolish lesbian character that had a talent for putting herself in life-threatening danger and seemed to do it just for kicks. Gil would instantly recognize this character the minute she picked up McGee's manuscript and made a small note on it, this time in a bright blue that was impossible for McGee to miss.

"What can I say? I'm an A-Junkie." McGee investigated this phrase 'A-Junkie' and discovered it was a term for people who lived on their adrenaline rush. He quickly decided it was an apt title for both Gil and for Lillian, the character in his novel.

I like reviews.


	3. If We Were a Movie

Just a quick note, sorry to anyone that's confused! I changed Gabby's name to Mariana (Gabby was a working name that wasn't meant to stick around as long as it did) Abigail Gibbs.

**If We Were a Movie**

Ziva David

Ziva really wished she'd never heard that damn song. Well, either of those damn songs. If she'd never heard the first, a song Delphinea had later told her was called "If We Were a Movie," then she'd never have the idiotic impulse to ask Gil to sing "Girl Next Door." Well, asking Gil to sing wasn't the mistake, really. It was asking her to dedicate it. Ziva was seriously debating whether it would be faster to die of embarrassment or just shoot herself. Right this second, the latter option, though it was looking better every second, didn't seem like the faster. Gil wouldn't look at her anymore, because she couldn't help the smirk that had earned her the still-brilliantly swollen black eye Ziva had given her for insinuating Ziva would enjoy Tony seducing her.

Just because she would did not give the girl any right to tell the truth in Tony's presence!

Gil seemed to sense this was Ziva's problem, and the smirk often graced her face, if she'd looked at Ziva or not. And Tony-Tony refused to give it up. She'd given him adequate warning. Pinned him against the wall, arm across the neck and everything. He should have given up the line of inquiry, but he wouldn't.

"Ziva." Gil's voice. Ziva looked up at her, having finally given up on ignoring the younger woman. Gil's face was strangely devoid of her trademark smirk. "Delphinea's singing tonight. She would appreciate it if you came. She wants to apologize." Gibbs glanced in their direction. He had no idea who Delphinea was, though she was standing right in front of him, and he was getting a little tired of all the deception brought into his team when Jenny had ordered him to accept Gil and Mariana as team members. He loved his adopted daughter Mariana Abigail Gibbs (she'd changed her middle and last names the day she turned 18) like she really was his own flesh and blood, but could often deal without her disobedient, foolish, and secretive girlfriend. A moment later, he realized Gil had turned her head and was staring daggers into the side of his head with her cobalt-blue eyes. To date, she was the only person Ziva had met who could meet Gibbs' coldest stare and not flinch.

"Gil!" Mariana snapped as she came down the stairs from MTAC, no doubt from another meeting with the director about this secret mission they were assigned to. "Stop death-glaring Dad!"

Tony choked on his laughter, spraying his soda across his desk, computer, phone, both his and Tony Dinardo's cell phones, and Gil's back, the owner which was unfortunate enough to catch the spray. Gil turned her death-glare on Tony, who quickly swallowed his laughter and turned his head, an innocent look on his face. The younger woman then turned back to her girlfriend.

"Yes, Muddy-na." Tony choked on his soda again. Mariana's college nickname was "Marina," and somehow it had at some point changed to Muddy-na.


	4. Obvious

Final Chapter. The song is "Obvious" by Westlife, a wonderful band.

**Obvious**

Tony DiNozzo 

"She's going to kill me!" Tony moaned as he tugged at his ridiculous-looking outfit, a toga of sorts, which Gil had insisted he wear. He would blow her cover if he didn't. Why did she still need her cover? Jeanne was gone. La Grenouille had disappeared (Gil presumed he was dead, as no one had seen or heard from him in almost a month, including contacts she had that no one was supposed to know about). Gil smacked his hand away from the fabric and adjusted it, hiding the fact he was still wearing a tank top and loose white pants. She then adjusted her _stola_, making sure it covered the definitely not standard-issue Desert Eagle Magnum in the middle of her back. It was an awkward draw, but she refused to come to this job without it. She also refused to tell him exactly why she and her girlfriend were carrying concealed weapons. Mariana's concealed weapon was a much more manageable 9-mil Beretta.

"Hey, DiNozzo, I need you to remember two-nah, scratch that, three things. One, you're amazing." He rolled his eyes, mumbling.

"Amazing. Check." Despite the fact that at that exact moment he felt like a man about to die for something he cared about than a man about to profess his love to a beautiful woman. If this went the way he _knew_ it was going to, he was probably more likely to be the first than the second.

"Two, you love Ziva." He almost laughed. Of course he loved Ziva. How could he not love her? She was so, so. . .so _Ziva_. It was cliché as hell to say it that way, but there really were no words to describe how he felt about her.

"Three, Ziva loves you back." That was the one that worrying him. Did she? Or was Gil delusional in this belief and dragging him into her fantasy? This wasn't unheard of. He'd heard from a reliable source (a woman named Catherine from Gil's father's lab in Las Vegas) that she had a meddling hand and wasn't afraid to use it even if she was refusing to realize she was wrong. (Catherine had also asked to speak to Mariana during this conversation , apparently grilled her on Tony and Ziva's relationship, and decided that this was not one of those cases.) "And by the way, I need my cover because I'm not the only one who uses it. There are four of us that use Delphinea as a cover."

"Can't people tell the difference?" he asked. Gil grinned and snapped her blindfold at him, thwacking him across the arm.

"We look similar enough that when we wear our blindfolds you can't really tell the difference in our faces, and we spend hours listening to each other sing so we could learn to sound like each other. Actually, we look similar enough that Mariana once kissed Tracy thinking she was me, until she realized she was looking into chocolate brown eyes instead of cobalt blue ones. That was a bit awkward." Tony was only partly listening now, back to worrying about what exactly Ziva was going to do when he . . . did what he was about to do. Gil snapped her fingers at him, and he realized at some point while she was speaking she had put in her almost opaque contact lenses. They made her eyes look, well, like a blind person's. "You ready?" He shook his head, but Gil was tying on her blindfold and pretended she didn't notice, though he knew she did. He was going to do this. She wasn't going to let him back out. "Alright, I'm going on stage. Remember, I'm calling for Tommy." Tony took a deep breath and nodded. As if he could forget. Gil went out on stage to thunderous applause, making a beeline for her stool at center stage.

"Good evening," She said, raising a hand for silence, which fell near instantly. "I again have a special request from a dear friend of mine, a young man who's given name is Tommy," there were whistles and catcalls. Clearly this crowd hadn't forgotten Lisa's dedication of "Girl Next Door." Delphinea let her head fall forward and to the side in mock-exasperation. The crowd quieted. Though the woman on stage couldn't see it, Ziva was sitting at the table closest the stage, and Artemis was standing next to her with one hand on her shoulder. "But we're doing this a little differently than "Girl Next Door." Tommy asked to sing with me, and I granted his desire. Lisa, if you're out there," Ziva knew that Delphinea knew exactly where she was. "this is for you." The music started, and Tony walked out on stage. His eyes locked on Ziva as Gil began the song.

"We started as friends,

But something happened inside me

Now I'm reading into everything

But there's no sign you hear the lightning, baby."

There were tears forming in Ziva's eyes. Her right hand, laying in her lap, was opening and closing. Artemis was trying to figure out if they should get Tony out of there ASAP. She'd like him to survive Delphinea's meddling, thank you very much.

"You don't ever notice me, turning on my charm.

Or wonder why I'm always where you are."

Delphinea had joked with him when they were rehearsing that Tony's charm was _always_ on. He'd ignored her.

This was the crucial point. Was Tony going to pluck up the nerve to join in the chorus, let alone sing the second verse solo? Delphinea was prepared to sing the song through on her own, but she'd never let Tony forget he'd missed his chance to admit to Ziva he loved her. Tony looked in Delphinea's direction for a moment, caught her slight nod, then looked back at Ziva, beginning to sing.

"I've made it obvious

Done everything but sing it,"

At this point, Artemis became the necessary third part, singing her line slightly quieter than "Tommy" and Delphinea.

"I've crushed on you so long, but on and on you get me wrong,"

Tony's voice was getting stronger as he realized Ziva was beginning to cry.

"I'm not so good with words

And since you never notice

The way that we belong

I'll say it in a love song."

At this point, Delphinea let her voice fall, leaving Tony on his own. He could do it, she knew, but would he?

"I've heard you talk about,"

Well, that answered that question. Delphinea and Artemis echoed him, and it became a game of trading lines.

"Heard you talk about,"

"How you want someone just like me,

But every time I ask you out,"

"Time I ask you out,"

"We never move past friendly, no, no."

Artemis moved to sit on the side of the stage, and Delphinea joined her, leaving Tony standing alone on stage.

"You don't ever notice how I stare when we're alone,

Or wonder why I keep you on the phone."

Ziva was smiling now. She had noticed that Tony was staring somewhat more than usual, and he did seem reluctant to hang up on those rare occasions they found themselves making social calls.

Delphinea and Artemis joined back in for the chorus.

"I've made it obvious

Done everything but sing it,"

"I've crushed on you so long, but on and on you get me wrong,"

"I'm not so good with words

And since you never notice

The way that we belong

I'll say it in a love song."

Delphinea and Artemis got up, pulled Ziva to her feet, and led her closer to the stage. Tony offered her his hand, pulled her up on stage with him, and wrapped her in his arms, continuing to sing.

"You are my very first thought in the morning,

And my last at nightfall.

You are the love that came without warning,

I need you, I want you to know."

Tony stopped singing, leaving it to Delphinea and Artemis to sing the rest. His green eyes were locked on her brown ones as he slowly leaned down and brushed her lips with his. She leaned into him, returning the kiss.

Wow. That was all his brain would say. They'd kissed before, sure, but that was as Sophie and Jean-Paul and had been full of faked passion and romance. This was just open, honest love. This wasn't Jean-Paul kissing Sophie, this was Tony kissing Ziva, and Ziva kissing Tony back.

"And sing it until the day you're holding me,

I've wanted you so long but on and on you get me wrong,

I more than adore you but since you never seem to see,"

Delphinea and Artemis's voice faded as the couple continued to kiss. Ziva had wrapped her arms around Tony's neck, and his were around her waist, and it would probably be weeks before they came down off cloud nine.

"Since you never seem to see,

I'll say it in this love song."

--------------------------------- 

Alrighty folks, that's where I plan on ending it. If someone reviews with a particularly wonderful idea for another chapter, I might add to it, but right now this is it. Sorry about the confusion of Gabby/Mariana's name. (And yes, I decided Tony's eyes are green. They change, and I looked at one of my favorite TIVA scenes and his eyes were green, so that's what I chose)

Review please!


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